“Fewer misdeliveries, less fatigue” ... Lotte Hi-Mart to begin humanoid robot trials

[Financial News] Lotte Hi-Mart will provide a logistics center as a testing site and take part in developing a homegrown humanoid robot.
According to industry sources on the 7th, Lotte Hi-Mart was selected for a government-funded project under the 2026 Robot Industry Technology Development Program, overseen by the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT), which is affiliated with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The project aims to develop humanoid robots tailored to industrial settings using domestic technology, reduce reliance on foreign-made robots and artificial intelligence (AI) models, and lay the groundwork for AI transformation in logistics. From this year through 2031, Yujin Robot Co., Ltd. will lead the project, with SeeSo and the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) participating as research institutions.
Lotte Hi-Mart will participate alongside Lotte Global Logistics as an end-user company that deploys the robots in real-world settings and verifies their performance. Starting in 2028, it plans to deploy humanoid robots at its Icheon Logistics Center to perform tasks such as checking orders, identifying product models, options and barcodes, and picking and packing items. By next year, it plans to analyze the target processes in an environment that simulates actual working conditions and finalize the testing scenarios and evaluation criteria.
Specifically, Lotte Hi-Mart will deploy humanoid robots in logistics operations, collect data on successful and unsuccessful tasks, and support technological improvements by passing suggestions to the development team. It plans to verify whether a “fully autonomous, continuous process” can be implemented, in which robots independently perform multiple tasks in sequence and respond to exceptional situations. The company expects that accumulating trial data will improve the accuracy of logistics operations and reduce worker fatigue and customer inconvenience caused by misdeliveries.
Trials of wearable robots that augment workers' strength are also underway. This past May, Lotte Hi-Mart was selected for a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy project under the “AI Application Product Rapid Commercialization Support Program (AX Sprint),” jointly promoted by 11 government ministries.
As part of the project, an exoskeleton suit developed by FRT Robotics is being used in home appliance logistics operations at the Daegu Logistics Center in Chilgok County, North Gyeongsang Province. Lotte Hi-Mart is helping develop AI control algorithms suited to the home appliance logistics environment by providing feedback gathered during on-site operations.
Shin Hyun-chae, head of the SCM division at Lotte Hi-Mart, said, “We expect that introducing humanoid robots at our logistics centers will reduce worker fatigue and minimize errors in logistics operations, further improving efficiency. Lotte Hi-Mart plans to continue participating in trials of various ‘humanoid robots,’ making use of the characteristics of its logistics centers, and contribute to advancing AI in logistics.”
[email protected] Jang Yu-ha Reporter